On May 31st, 2012 the Maxwell family boarded a plane and moved to Swaziland to live at Project Canaan. I hope to update my blog on Saturday mornings and share, as honestly as I can, the highs and lows of our life in Africa. We are living on a farm in a remote part of this tiny Kingdom and are serving the community as well as the orphans and vulnerable children of the nation. The 365 day count down started on June 1st, 2011, but the real journey begins now. Thanks for joining us.

Follow our weekly news by email

Saturday, July 29, 2017

Please don’t feel sorry for our children.

Phayo and Mona Lisa are biological sisters and love each other dearly.

It used to bother me that people would tell us how they felt
sorry for our children not being raised in a “normal home” and how sad it is
that they can’t be adopted so that they could be loved “properly” by two
parents.No matter how we try to
explain that they live in a Children’s Home where Ian and I are their mother
and father and they have many loving Aunts and Uncles, it doesn’t deter their
looks of pity and many “helpful suggestions” on how we can do things better.

I have been preparing a series of talks on “family” and
“parenting” for our Care Team and came across an interesting article by an author
called Theophanes that says, “Western
Society seems to have this idea that there is only one type of family, that of
the Nuclear form, which consists of a mother, a father, and children. This
belief is an incredibly misinformed one as across the globe at any point in our
social history there have been all sorts of views on what families are and how
they should be composed”.

I know single parents who wouldn’t change their family
structure for anything. I have friends who live with three generations of
people in their home, and that is perfect for them.And I know many divorced couples whom wish their family life
had turned out differently, but there is now a new “normal” in which they raise
their children.

Is one family style really better than another?I think I was raised in the “perfect
family” with a mom, a dad and only me.But growing up I had people tell me how sorry they were for me that I
had no siblings. I LOVED being an only child. :)

But now that I am mother to 164 children I have noticed an
undercurrent in conversations I have with Westerners that our family here on
Project Canaan is somehow “second best”, and I disagree. The Lord is doing a “new work” here, and
our children reflect that. They
are being raised in much of their culture, speaking their language and learning
about the deep heritage that they come from.

Shirley and Christine

Our children are healthy (even the ones being
treated for HIV/AIDS), strong, smart and even the most disabled child is loved
and cared in a way that would be given to an “only child” in western culture.

Our Care Team are all “stay at home moms and
dads”.Our children are not
distracted by electronics or an over active schedule.They are loved by many in a large village, some whom they
see once a year and some whom they see every day.They play, fight, cry, whine, laugh and love, like any other
“normal” kid.

Little Wendy.

In today’s meeting with my staff I will ask the question
“What makes a healthy home” and “What makes an unhealthy home?” Isn’t that
really what we should be trying to achieve?A healthy home environment filled with love, hope,
inspiration, stimulation, discipline, joy, faith and Jesus at the core?

Our family doesn’t look like your family. Our family doesn’t
look like ANY other family.We are
unique, and like you, we were all placed in our families by our heavenly Father,
who has great plans for our lives. For that I will be forever grateful.

Thank you all for being a part of our village.

If you would like to financially support our family, please
become a monthly donor today.

Live from Swaziland … I am off to a morning of games and fun
with our big kids.

Janine

PS – Jonathan is still at the hospital, but he is responding
to treatment and they do not think that he has TB.They will discharge him when he weights 8.5 KG (18.9
pounds). Thanks for your continued prayers for him.